You never know what kind of scene you might walk into when you walk through the front door of Rocher House in Paris, private home of French businessman Jérémy Rocher and his family. Last year, 40 people chatted at a long banquet table in the white calm of the 220-square-metre vaulted hall to open the city’s new design fair, Matter and Shape. More recently, the atmosphere became intimate and hushed with the installation of candlelit tables at a dinner to launch the Danish design brand. Framecollaboration with beni rugs.
The apartment was transformed again last month by an exhibition curated by art advisor Étienne Macret and former Carpenters Workshop New York director Ashlee Harrison during Art Basel and Design Miami Paris. A mix of art, collectible furniture and design objects from galleries such as David Zwirner and Carpenters, the pieces were arranged on site as if they were in a home, including coffee tables by Vincent Dubourg and Vincenzo De Cotiis set with a Serpente sofa by Marzio Cecchi and Martin Szekely’s aluminum-edged West Coast dining table (once owned by Karl Lagerfeld) complemented by six hyper-colorful Franz West chairs.
But outside of these types of events (which have cemented Maison Rocher as one of the most talked about venues in the city), it is in fact a true home: one that Rocher shares with his partner, the Australian designer. Kym Elleryhis two young children and his rescue dog, Miso. On a rainy Sunday, you might find Ellery sitting on a long couch, with eight-month-old Amaia napping beside her, while two-year-old Armand performs child-like body slams against the padded cushions. of the sofa. Above them, a soothing blue glow casts a sphere-shaped James Turrell on a wall.
“The idea with this apartment was to have a space where you were disconnected from the city. The curved shapes have an enveloping effect,” Rocher says of the vision and an aesthetic – monastic and minimalist but also enveloping – that stands outside the typical Parisian canon. From the antechamber, empty except for a draped, peach-hued wax sculpture by French artist Juliette Minchin, a series of arched openings lead to the vaulted hall. The long room curves around the corner of the building and is flanked by 10 floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking a park; The leafy view gives the feeling of being perched in the trees. Lightness abounds everywhere, enhanced by the reflective terrazzo floor.
Rocher bought the property six years ago, although he and Ellery moved out last year. “It’s funny, the property was on the market for six months because people didn’t see the potential behind it,” he says of what were previously two office spaces equipped with partitions, false ceilings and carpets. “Even the windows and skylights were hidden,” he adds, pointing to the sky. We’re sitting at a huge island bench in the kitchen, big enough to serve dinner for more than 40 people, right off the living room. In contrast to the bright white of the main space, the bench is carved from jewel-like Patagonian granite that also covers the floor. Around us, full-height oak cabinets meet ceiling panels that frame a series of skylights.
The 40-year-old initially envisioned Maison Rocher as a possible commercial art space, but he liked it so much that he decided it could also function as a retreat in Paris, since he lived abroad (between Hong Kong and Milan ) in time.
The plan surrounds the building’s internal staircase, and the private rooms (three bedrooms, three bathrooms, a dressing room and a laundry room) are located at the rear of the apartment. They can be hidden by a secret door in the kitchen cabinet or, on the other hand, by sliding dividing doors designed to disappear into the walls.
The feeling of being “at home” that resonates here was overseen by architect Simon Pesin, who was tasked with creating “a home and meeting place for art.” Regarding the element of artistic encounter, he says: “Jérémy wanted to create an ‘anti-gallery’ to get away from the cliché of concrete floors, orthogonal white walls and technical spotlights.” Together, Rocher and Pesin gave rhythm to the space with curved arches, walls and ceilings: organic shapes inspired by the art nouveau motifs of the building’s exterior, with nods to Antoni Gaudí, Barbara Hepworth and the spectacular fireplaces of French ceramist Valentine Schlegel.
It’s the rhythm that Ashlee Harrison, who is also the curatorial director of Design Miami LA, instantly tuned into when organizing the exhibition. “The volumes of the space allow you to create intimate moments without them being overwhelming,” he says. “It feels more personal, allowing collectors to understand the relationship between the works and how they might translate into a domestic, albeit loosely contextualized, environment.”
Rocher, grandson of The late cosmetics entrepreneur Yves Rocher looks elegant at home wearing his signature uniform: black t-shirt, jeans, sneakers and cap (shop at Prada, Uniqlo and Comme Des Garçons). In addition to a previous career as CEO of the accessories brand. Coast and Sky and the now-defunct fashion brand Damir Doma, has long been a collector and investor, and was an early shareholder in the online art platform Artsy.
The Rocher family is entrepreneurial but also creative. Rocher’s father, Daniel, is a sculptor and founder of the open-air contemporary art space Château Charleval in Provence. His two sisters, Noemie and Aurélia, are both artists. Ellery has also managed to transition from fashion to collectible furniture design and sculpture. “There’s always been an artistic side and a business side to the family, and I like to be between the two,” Rocher says. “What I love is the exchange you can have with the artists and the emotion I feel in front of the works of art.”
With Maison Rocher, I hoped to support and enhance these possibilities. He considers the proliferation of art fairs to be similar to Fashion Weeks: inexhaustible tours in major capitals that leave little time for contemplation. “You just go from booth to booth, going through different galleries and themes. “There are too many people, too much information,” he says, adding that we must value what we have in front of us. “This is a place to exchange and disconnect.”
Some of the works Rocher has acquired, such as those by Turrell and Minchin, are now an integral part of the architecture, a permanent part of the experience. However, he enjoys mixing things up and seeing how collaborators interpret the space. “I want to incorporate more installation-based works to ensure the place evolves, and I love when someone comes in with a different perspective and way of presenting,” he says.
But the self-described minimalist (a necessity, he says, having lived in 13 apartments in 15 years) admits that flexibility won’t be compatible with family life for long. So far, it has proven to be a happy home. Ellery, in particular, loves the place: “There’s plenty of space and the location is central, so we often have friends to visit,” she says, looking around the apartment. “But if you feel like hibernating, it’s also very cozy. “I love lying on the couch in the sun and taking it all in.” She has been teaching her son Armand that art is for looking at, rather than touching, especially Turrell’s seductive dance of lights.
“Armand loves the bathtub, too,” Rocher says as he leads us into the master bathroom, which has a solid oval-shaped marble bathtub, a slab of vibrant camouflage hues from a quarry in the south of France. He compares marble to a painting, although, weighing 500kg, it proved to be the most difficult job to install.
If the family outgrows the space, there may be an opportunity to take the immersive element to the next level. Rocher acquired a tourism license and is considering creating a highly curated nighttime experience where guests live with personalized selections of art and objects. “Today, the art market has a huge financial facet, but the original purpose of art is to take us out of ourselves, confront us in its reflection and create emotions,” he says. “It was never meant to be locked away.”